Nanoparticles (e.g., sizes below about 100 nm) of II-VI semiconductor compounds have been known to exhibit quantum confinement. Quantum confinement results when the electrons in a material are confined to a very small volume. Quantum confinement is size and shape dependent, meaning the properties of the nanoparticles are tunable based on their size and shape. Such nanoparticles may have applications in opto-electronic devices, laser diodes, nanosensing, and biomedical imaging. However, there remains a need for a method to synthesize semiconductor compounds in other nanostructure architectures that may exhibit quantum confinement.